Sugarless chewing gums are frequently enclosed with hard or soft coatings. Coatings provide an opportunity for the manufacturer to vary product characteristics such as taste, appearance and nutritional value. In recent years, efforts have been devoted to producing sugarless hard coatings for chewing gum. In today's health conscious society, gums containing sugarless sweeteners are popular confectionary items. In response to this consumer demand, the industry has investigated sugarless coatings containing compounds such as xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates. These sugarless compounds contain sweetening characteristics but are devoid of common known sugars such as sucrose, dextrose, fructose, glucose, and equivalent products.
Hard coatings containing sorbitol are common in the art. Sorbitol is generally acceptable because of its availability and the low cost. Sugarless gums coated with sorbitol, however, suffer from deficiencies. For example, sorbitol coating solutions are difficult to employ in the coating process. In addition, sorbitol coated products are usually rough, contain colored spots or blotches, and are waxy. Furthermore, because of its hygroscopicity, sorbitol dries and crystallizes slowly. Thus, sorbitol coated products are often rejected by consumers in favor of sugar coatings because of their rough and mottled appearance and lack of crunchiness.
Accordingly, a need currently exists in the confectionary market place for a sugarless gum with a hard coating which possesses the appealable characteristics of a sugar coating. To satisfy consumers, the coating would ideally be identical in appearance, taste, and mouth feel to a sugar coating. To satisfy the manufacturers, the coating would be high in stability, easy to apply and economical.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved sugarless hard coated chewing gum. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sugarless hard coating for a sugarless chewing gum which compares to the appearance, mouth feel, stability, and ease of application of sugar hard coatings. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for applying such a sugarless coating to a sugarless chewing gum center.